Not many years ago, men could look up and behold the vast array of stars that filled the night sky. Such was heaven’s tangibility. Now, men cannot look up and see more than the works of their own hands—what lights they have created blind them to a greater, deeper reality.
Entire civilizations once grounded themselves in the stars’ placement and regular motion. We struggle to see past ourselves.
Those with eyes to see can still see the light in heaven, however unlikely such a thing may seem to those who have lost that ability.
I think the attitude of every light bearer is something like this:
“In the absence of an enemy You think me the enemy In the presence of an enemy I am your greatest friend”
It’s becoming more and more clear to me that one’s ability to discern light is proportional to the degree of darkness they perceive. People hold on so tightly to their current structures because they haven’t yet faced the earthquakes that reveal their insufficiencies. Nobody who thinks Babylon has all the answers will see those insisting on exodus as friendly. It’s only after the apocalypse (Greek pun intended) that people have a better idea of what’s valuable, and what isn’t.
“The things of God are of deep import, and time and experience and careful and ponderous and solemn thoughts can only find them out. Thy mind, O Man, if thou wilt lead a soul unto salvation, must stretch as high as the utmost Heavens, and search into and contemplate the lowest considerations of the darkest abyss, and expand upon the broad considerations of eternal expanse; he must commune with God.”
This last week I’ve been especially grateful for good friends. I struggle putting in words how I feel.
Many are familiar with the revelations Joseph received in Liberty Jail. However, many are not familiar with the fact that those sections of the Doctrine and Covenants are only portions of a much longer letter. When sections of this letter were later canonized in 1876, Orson Pratt lifted the words of the Lord from the text to isolate the revelation. It’s great scripture, but it’s even better when you read it in its full context.
We’re used to reading, “Oh God, where art thou?” etc., and then immediately reading the Lord’s response: “My son, peace be unto thy soul…” However, reading this letter in its full context paints a slightly different picture. Notice what led to Joseph hearing the Lord’s voice:
“Those who have not been enclosed in the walls of a prison without cause or provocation can have but a little idea how sweet the voice of a friend is. One token of friendship from any source whatever awakens and calls into action every sympathetic feeling. It brings up in an instant everything that is passed; it seizes the present with a vivacity of lightning; it grasps after the future with the fierceness of a tiger; it retrogrades from one thing to another, until finally all enmity, malice, and hatred, and past differences, misunderstandings and mismanagements lie slain victims at the feet of hope—and when the heart is sufficiently contrite, then the voice of inspiration steals along and whispers: ‘My son, peace be unto thy soul. Thine adversity and thy afflictions shall be but a small moment, and then if thou endure it well, God shall exalts thee on high. Thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts, and friendly hands.’”
It was “the voice of a friend” that filled Joseph with light, hope, and humility, putting him in a place contrite enough to hear God’s voice. On another occasion, he said: “Nothing is so much calculated to lead people to forsake sin as to take them by the hand and to watch over them in tenderness. When persons manifest the least kindness and love to me, O what pow’r it has over my mind.”
My good friends are a balm of Gilead to my soul. I’m blessed by my association with them. Their service and love inspire me to in turn be a better friend to others. Love has such a ripple effect.
I’m reminded of the Savior’s mission: “he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Isaiah 61:1, Luke 4:18). It was His love for His friends that empowered Him to soften their hearts and free them from their own spiritual chains: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13); “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24); “he loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life that he may draw all men unto him” (2 Nephi 26:24).
The Savior’s atoning sacrifice is the source of all good things. Because He descended below all things, He is the fulcrum of all creation. All love can be traced back to His atonement – even before it happened. As we are inspired by love to love, we are sown into the order of life. “We love him [and therefore, the least of these], because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
Never underestimate the power you have to bring that about for someone else. The most powerful thing we can do in turning others to Christ is binding up their broken hearts with love – thus opening the prison door to their own spiritual Liberty Jails. It was the love of Joseph’s friends that freed his mind and softened his heart sufficient to hear the voice of inspiration.
Ultimately, every person must learn to hear and obey the voice of God for themselves, but our love can soften hearts sufficient to hear Him, and exercise faith.
Joseph once called writing a “little, narrow prison” of words; “total darkness of paper, pen and ink—and a crooked, broken, scattered and imperfect language.” That sentiment speaks to me more with each passing day. As I’ve come to understand greater mysteries, seeing the deep coherence and beauty of the gospel, I find it near impossible to reduce these things to words.
It’s not that I feel I know a lot – just that what I do know is beginning to transcend my ability to explain it. Language, sentences, and words are linear; these truths exist in grand patterns and arrays. Putting these things in words is a lot like trying to describe a painting to someone who hasn’t seen it, or tasking a stranger with picking out my friend from a crowd, just based on my description. I recognize and comprehend it when I see it, but struggle to capture its fulness in words.
Like Moroni, I sense my weakness in writing (Ether 12:25).
Like Joseph, Moses, and Enoch, I am slow of speech, “but a lad, and all the people hate me” (Moses 6:31).
I feel increasingly inadequate, relying on the Spirit to distill upon the hearts of the penitent the truths I cannot put in words – ever cautious that I don’t, “by any means, get shaken from my firmness in the Spirit, and stumble because of my over anxiety for you” (Jacob 4:18).
I also understand with increasing clarity why the Lord has said, “Say nothing but repentance unto this generation” (D&C 11:9). It’s impossible for others to receive greater truth from God if they ignore what He has already given them. We all have access to the same light and Spirit of truth, and any person who will give serious attention and heed to that influence will attune themselves to the melody of creation, and thus be empowered to see and understand all truth (Moroni 10:5).
“But great and marvelous are the works of the Lord, and the mysteries of his kingdom which he showed unto us, which surpass all understanding in glory, and in might, and in dominion; which he commanded us we should not write while we were yet in the Spirit, and are not lawful for man to utter; neither is man capable to make them known, for they are only to be seen and understood by the power of the Holy Spirit, which God bestows on those who love him, and purify themselves before him; to whom he grants this privilege of seeing and knowing for themselves; that through the power and manifestation of the Spirit, while in the flesh, they may be able to bear his presence in the world of glory” (D&C 76:114-118; see also Moses 1:2-11).
This same gift and power is accessible to any person in any age of history. Whether it’s our day, or Joseph Smith’s day, or Peter’s, or Nephi’s; it is the same Spirit, available to everyone. This is why, not only did the early converts to the Church feel the same Spirit and power in the Book of Mormon that is felt today, but the same eternal truths that were understood by Joseph Smith were understood by Peter (and vice versa); they were animated by the same Spirit.
As Nephi said:
“And it came to pass after I, Nephi, having heard all the words of my father, concerning the things which he saw in a vision, and also the things which he spake by the power of the Holy Ghost, which power he received by faith on the Son of God—and the Son of God was the Messiah who should come—I, Nephi, was desirous also that I might see, and hear, and know of these things, by the power of the Holy Ghost, which is the gift of God unto all those who diligently seek him, as well in times of old as in the time that he should manifest himself unto the children of men.
“For he is the same yesterday, today, and forever; and the way is prepared for all men from the foundation of the world, if it so be that they repent and come unto him. For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, as well in these times as in times of old, and as well in times of old as in times to come; wherefore, the course of the Lord is one eternal round” (1 Nephi 10:17-19).
My hope is in the fact that despite my weakness, these things can be understood by any person who will give heed to the Spirit, and diligently seek to know the mysteries of God.
I pray we all do, and that my words inspire faith to pursue that course.
Admittedly, the title of this post is a bit tongue-in-cheek.
Jonathan Pageau is an Orthodox Christian, professional carver, writer, and public speaker. He specializes in symbolism and traditional Christian art. I’ve recently been profoundly impressed by many of the conclusions he’s come to through symbolism.
Though I’m not endorsing all of his conclusions, his testimony of scriptural patterns supports many unique doctrines Joseph claimed to have received by revelation, which were largely opposed in his day (perhaps with the exception of the first one). And yet Joseph got the pattern and archetypes right every time.
If this post floats into his orbit, I’d love hear his reaction to the symbolism and archetypes of the Book of Mormon. I think he could mine out greater value than many.
The New Jerusalem Emerging from the United States
“We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory” (Articles of Faith 1:10).
“And that a New Jerusalem should be built up upon this land, unto the remnant of the seed of Joseph, for which things there has been a type. For as Joseph brought his father down into the land of Egypt, even so he died there; wherefore, the Lord brought a remnant of the seed of Joseph out of the land of Jerusalem, that he might be merciful unto the seed of Joseph that they should perish not, even as he was merciful unto the father of Joseph that he should perish not. Wherefore, the remnant of the house of Joseph shall be built upon this land; and it shall be a land of their inheritance; and they shall build up a holy city unto the Lord, like unto the Jerusalem of old; and they shall no more be confounded, until the end come when the earth shall pass away” (Ether 13:6-8).
Pre-Mortal Life
“Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be” (D&C 93:29).
“The mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-equal [co-eternal] with God himself… I am dwelling on the immortality of the spirit of man. Is it logical to say that the intelligence of spirits is immortal, and yet that it has a beginning? The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end. That is good logic. That which has a beginning may have an end. There never was a time when there were not spirits; for they are co-equal [co-eternal] with our Father in heaven.
“Intelligence is eternal and exists upon a self-existent principle. It is a spirit from age to age and there is no creation about it. All the minds and spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement…
“The first principles of man are self-existent with God. God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge. He has power to institute laws to instruct the weaker intelligences, that they may be exalted with Himself, so that they might have one glory upon another, and all that knowledge, power, glory, and intelligence, which is requisite in order to save them in the world of spirits” (King Follett Discourse).
“And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all…
“Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; and God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born.
“And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; and we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them” (Abraham 3:19, 22-25).
A Council of the Gods
“In the beginning, the head of the Gods called a council of the Gods; and they came together and concocted [prepared] a plan to create the world and people it. When we begin to learn this way, we begin to learn the only true God, and what kind of a being we have got to worship. Having a knowledge of God, we begin to know how to approach Him, and how to ask so as to receive an answer” (The King Follett Sermon).
Theosis
This is really only a foundation for the logical conclusion and bigger picture Joseph Smith shines a light on in the King Follett Discourse.
“Here, then, is eternal life—to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead, and are able to dwell in everlasting burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power” (The King Follett Sermon).
Hell
The first part of his explanation I cover at length here.
“Behold, I say unto you that ye would be more miserable to dwell with a holy and just God, under a consciousness of your filthiness before him, than ye would to dwell with the damned souls in hell. For behold, when ye shall be brought to see your nakedness before God, and also the glory of God, and the holiness of Jesus Christ, it will kindle a flame of unquenchable fire upon you” (Mormon 9:4-5)
“For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence. But this cannot be; we must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion” (Alma 12:14-15)
“Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness” (2 Nephi 9:14).
“A man is his own tormentor and his own condemner. Hence the saying, ‘They shall go into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone.’ The torment of disappointment in the mind of man is as exquisite as a lake burning with fire and brimstone. I say, so is the torment of man” (TPJS p. 357).
Establishing the Cause of Zion 